Welcome to week 22 of the 2022 Flat Tack Farm CSA program!
We've been harvesting the seasons abundance every day for the past few weeks. This time of year is so bountiful! This week's special item is Sweet potato greens! Sweet Potatoes (Ipomea Batata) are known mostly for their delicious roots, but did you know the greens are also edible- and delicious! They are best sauteed with a bit of garlic, or added to curry/soup, dumplings or stir fry. You typically only use the top 1/3 of the plant or pick the leaves off the stems. Here's a recipe for sweet potato dim sum- https://www.hwcmagazine.com/recipe/sweet-potato-green-purses/
This is our first year planting a larger amount of sweet potatoes in our green house. The past couple of years- we trialed a plant or two- but this year we went all in and ordered sweet potato slips. Slips are the shoots that sprout off of the potato. They are then clipped and put into water to develop roots (or in our case, shipped as is and planted directly into the soil). The photo above is from planting day and shows the slip and our prepared green house beds.
We will likely be harvesting the potatoes themselves in the next week or so (before the first frost). From planting to harvest it takes over 100 days. They then have to cure for about 2 weeks in a warm and humid environment to develop their sweetness. We'll have these ready for our Thanksgiving Cornucopia boxes. Another reminder- if you haven't signed up for this final harvest box, you can still do so! It is a separate share and will have lots of storage crops to stock you up for the autumn and holiday season. To sign up head to https://www.harvie.farm/farm/flat-tack-farm/signup
Other new items this week include braising greens - a mix of kale, collards, broccoli leaves, and tatsoi greens. These could also be a great addition to a stir fry with the sweet potato greens.
Enjoy!
Farmers,
Kelly & Patrick
